Sacrifices and Obligations, Military and Civilian

By

Kent Eiler

Updated Nov. 11, 2012 2:56 p.m. ET

On Veterans Day, Americans pause to honor those who have defended the nation's freedoms. I am reminded almost every day of the military members who made the ultimate sacrifice as I walk past the white grave markers at the National Cemetery in Alexandria, Va., on my way to work. The Alexandria cemetery isn't as well-known as its much larger counterpart just a few miles north in Arlington, but being in the presence of the graves there is just as humbling.

For those who don't regularly encounter active duty, reserve or retired members of the U.S. military, and who don't come across the cemeteries where they are interred, reminders of their service can be uncommon. This state of affairs came to mind recently when I watched the 1998 movie "Saving Private Ryan." At the close of the film, Capt. John Miller, played by Tom Hanks, is lying on the field of battle, mortally wounded. He pulls Pvt. James Ryan, played by Matt Damon, close to him and whispers: "Earn this." The words of Hanks's character are haunting, and they should be.

The film then cuts to the graveyards of Normandy 50 years later and the elderly Ryan is at a cemetery of the fallen. Weeping, he seeks assurances from his family that he has been a good man, has lived up to the high bar that was set for him.

I was struck by the realization that Ryan is Everyman—the rest of us, the living. As a practical matter many Americans minimize their obligation to the fallen. This minimization isn't a case of jadedness; they still honor the sacrifice of the dead, but they view the sacrifice through a limited lens—those who died did so to protect loved ones and the homeland. In that context, one's obligation to the fallen, while profound, is also modest. The families of those buried in Alexandria and Arlington are long gone, and the homeland is still here. A timely moment of silence and the occasional parade are probably sufficient to honor the sacrifice of America's veterans and the fallen.

In the film however, the elderly Ryan is troubled because he senses that he is bound by more, and he's right. I would say that he's bound by an idea. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" and to that end "we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor." Those words from the Declaration of Independence form a compact, a compact across the living and the dead, one that all of us have made regardless of whether we have served in uniform or not. "We" meaning you and I. "Mutually pledge to each other," meaning we obligate, and what are we obligating? Our very lives, fortunes and honor. What a heavy compact! In these terms it is a huge weight for the living, one that goes to the heart of how we live our lives.

There are some Americans who would say that they have no such obligation. Yet all around them the evidence would suggest that they at least benefit from the compact even if they refuse to abide by it. They speak their minds freely, they worship their god as they please, and they exercise these rights by virtue of their birth or having immigrated to the United States. To be sure, the complete victory of equality remains elusive, the accomplishment of our ideals incomplete, but the quest continues. On Veterans Day, we honor all those who have served throughout the nation's history, but that's just a start. We would do well also to vow to live our lives pursuant to the American compact. At the conclusion of "Saving Private Ryan," Ryan looks to his family, wondering whether he has measured up, whether he has lived a good life. Has he? Have we?

Mr. Eiler is an attorney, a veteran and a captain in the United States Air Force Reserve. The views expressed here are solely personal observations and are not statements of official government policy.

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